Annotation:Munlochy Bridge

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X:1 T:Munlochy Bridge M:4/4 L:1/8 B:William Ross - Ross's Collection of Pipe Music (1869, No. 159) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion R:Strathspey K:G a|e>dB>A B<GG>B|d>ed>B d2 da|e>dB>A B<GG>e|g>ef>d e2 e:|| f|d>eg>e a>ee.f|d>ed>B d2 d>e|d>eg>e a>ee>f|g>ef>d e2 e>f| d>eg>e a>ee>f|d>ed>B d2 da|e>dB>A B<GG>e|g>ef>d e2 e:|]



MUNLOCHY BRIDGE. AKA - "Munlochie Bridge." AKA and see "Gun do dhiùlt am bodach fodar dhomh" (The old man refused me fodder), "I'll Hap Ye in My Plaidie," "Sir Harry's Welcome Home." Scottish, Canadian; Strathspey. Canada; Cape Breton, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Perlman): AAB (Cranford/Holland, Martin). Munlochy is a village near Inverness, Scotland, located on the Black Isle, the name of a peninsula[1] in north east Scotland between the Beauly Firth to the south and Cromarty Firth to the north. It is called 'black', according to local lore, because it remains relatively clear of snow.

The melody has been employed for popular songs (in Gaelic and English), along with fiddle and pipe tunes in various iterations. Originally Scottish, it was imported to Maritime Canada. Gaelic words to the melody are given by John Shaw in liner notes to Topic 12TS354, obtained from Cape Breton storyteller Joe Neil MacNeil. Perlman (1996) notes the tune is widely played among fiddlers throughout North-East Kings County, Prince Edward Island, Canada. Christine Martin (2002) prints a song version under the Gaelic title "Gun do dhiùlt am bodach fodar dhomh" (The old man refused me fodder), and the melody is also the vehicle for the puirt a beul songs "Dh'ith na coinna maragan" and "Tha m'inntinn raoir a-nochd 's a-raoir." A variant is also used for the song "Leith Wynd" or "Come Hap Me with Thy Petticoat." Cape Breton fiddler, composer, publisher and editor (and lighthouse-keeper) Paul Stewart Cranford finds the strathspey "Sir John Malcolm" (in Bremner, Kerr's Fourth Collection) to be a related tune, particularly the first strain of "Sir John Malcolm" which closely resembles the second part of "Munlochy Bridge." The melody appears in many pipe collections as well as fiddle volumes, and in fact the first appearance of the "Munlochy Bridge" title attached to the tune was in Queen Victoria's piper William Ross's 1885 collection.

See also the related Irish slide (12/8) "She didn't Dance and Dance" and, perhaps more distantly, the slip jig (9/8) "My Mind Will Never be Easy."


Additional notes
Source for notated version : - Peter Chaisson, Jr. (b. 1942, Bear River, North-East Kings County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman].

Printed sources : - Corfield (Tunes from New Brunswick), 2024; p. 86. Cranford (Jerry Holland: The Second Collection), 2000; No. 195, p. 73. MacDonald (Gesto Collection), 1895. Martin (Ceol na Fidhle, vol. 3), 1988; p. 35. Martin (Traditional Scottish Fiddling), 2002; pp. 16 & 78. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; p. 188. Ross (William Ross Collection of Pipe Music), 1869; No. 159, p. 115.

Recorded sources : - Rounder 7006, Theresa MacLellan (unlisted 2nd tune, side one, cut seven). Rounder 7059, Alex Francis MacKay with Gordon MacLean - "Gaelic in the Bow" (2005). Topic 12TS354, Alex Francis MacKay. Rounder 82161-7032-2, Bill Lamey - "From Cape Breton to Boston and Back: Classic House Sessions of Traditional Cape Breton Music 1956-1977" (2000). Wildcat Records WILDCD 101, Ronan Martin - "Ronan Martin" (2008).

See also listing at :
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [1]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]



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  1. Although a peninsula, the Black Isle looks to be an island from some sea approaches.
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